A person commits mail fraud when they use the United States postal system in order to defraud a person or a company. Mail fraud is a felony. There are many forms of schemes dreamed up by people in an attempt to obtain money or items of value illegally. If the postal service is used for even part of the attempt, then mail fraud has been committed. The internet has made mail fraud even more tempting to the criminal mind. Wire fraud that takes place online but also uses the postal service to pull off the scheme also meets the requirements of mail fraud. Online auctions that take a postal money order as payment for an item that the buyer never receives also qualify as mail fraud cases. Work at home and get rich quick scams are notorious for mail fraud.